In 2011, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification, Istat made the Italian Historical Statistical Repositoryavailable. The Repository describes the environmental, social and economic changes that Italy has undergone from unification to the present day, through a heritage of approximately 1,500 time series.

Data are organised into 22 thematic areas, theycan be downloaded and processed. Statistics on some aspects – such as health, justice, demographical aspects and external trade – run from 1861; other series – concerning phenomena that only in recent years have become the object of particular attention - refer to a shorter period. To facilitate the interpretation of phenomena over time, absolute values are often accompanied by the main indicators (rates, percentage values, compositions).

Each seriesis completed by a History of data sources, describing the transformation of definitions and methodologies in the statistical information. For a correct use of the data, the documentation is completed by a Glossary and by General instructions.

The system is open to external contributions. Experts, researchers or scientific companies can add the results of their own studies to the archive. In this way, the Repository will become a unique tool for both Italian and international scientific research. To propose new time series to be included, please send an email to seriestoriche@istat.it, attaching the excel files with data and methodological notes. Suitable proposals will be published in the Repository, indicating the author and source of data.